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Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders

Typical education: High school diplomaModerate pressure

What they do

Operate or tend cooking equipment, such as steam cooking vats, deep fry cookers, pressure cookers, kettles, and boilers, to prepare food products.

Kinds of work

  • Realistic: Hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals, often outdoors.
  • Conventional: Organizing information, following clear procedures and working with data and details.

Moderate pressure: How much pressure workers in this job report: deadlines, conflict, dealing with upset people, the cost of mistakes, responsibility for others' safety, competition and long hours. It varies a lot from one employer to the next. Source: U.S. Department of Labor worker surveys.

Pay, tasks and more

Salary

United States $41,590 Median per year · $20.00/hr Most earn $31,680–$54,410

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025.

What you might do

  • Clean, wash, and sterilize equipment and cooking area, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions, or rinses.
  • Clean, wash, and sterilize equipment and cooking area, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions, or rinses.
  • Set temperature, pressure, and time controls, and start conveyers, machines, or pumps.
  • Place products on conveyors or carts, and monitor product flow.
  • Collect and examine product samples during production to test them for quality, color, content, consistency, viscosity, acidity, or specific gravity.
  • Read work orders, recipes, or formulas to determine cooking times and temperatures, and ingredient specifications.

Job outlook

United States
About the same number of jobs by 2035, little or no change · about 3,700 openings a year

Openings include new jobs and jobs left by workers who retire or change careers. Projections: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Bright Outlook": U.S. Department of Labor.

Where they work

  • Other food manufacturing21.9%
  • Animal slaughtering and processing18.3%
  • Fruit and vegetable preserving and specialty food manufacturing18.0%
  • Bakeries and tortilla manufacturing13.3%
  • Merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods5.1%

Share of all workers in this career. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Employment Matrix.

Experience before this job: 1 to 3 months

Some people start through an apprenticeship: paid training on the job, often with classes. Search apprenticeships on Apprenticeship.gov (opens in a new tab) ↗

Career path

How people usually get into this career, from school to their first job and beyond.

Typical education: High school diplomaExperience before this job: 1 to 3 monthsEntry-level

This is an entry-level job. Most people start with a high school diploma and a short on-the-job training period of about 1 to 3 months before they run equipment on their own.

  1. High school diploma

    4 years

    Build reading, math, and basic science skills, and learn to follow written instructions and safety rules, which you'll use every day around cooking equipment.

  2. Food Processing Worker

    1-3 months

    Start on a food production line doing basic tasks like loading, stocking, and cleaning, so you learn how a plant runs and how food safety works.

  3. Food Cooking Machine Operator and Tender

    Ongoing

    Learn to run steam kettles, fryers, pressure cookers, and boilers, checking temperatures, timers, and batch quality until you can work independently.

Where it can lead

  1. Lead Food Production Worker

    2-4 years of experience first

    You train newer workers, check that equipment is set up correctly, and keep your line on schedule, which takes strong reliability and good communication.

  2. Production Supervisor

    3-5 years of experience first

    You plan shifts, oversee several machines and crews, and handle food safety records, so you need to show strong leadership and an understanding of the whole production process.

What you can do now

Ideas for high school and college students.

In high school

  • Take math and chemistry classesMeasuring ingredients, reading temperatures, and understanding how heat changes food all rely on these skills.
  • Get a part-time job in a restaurant or grocery store kitchenEven a dishwashing or prep job teaches you kitchen routines, cleanliness, and how to keep up with a busy schedule.
  • Join a Future Business Leaders or FCCLA-type club at schoolClubs like these, where your school has them, teach teamwork, responsibility, and presenting ideas, which help when you move into lead roles.
  • Volunteer at a food bank or community kitchenYou'll learn large-batch food handling and sanitation, which is close to the work in food production plants.
  • Learn basic food safety rulesReading about safe cooking temperatures and cleaning routines gives you a head start on the rules you'll follow every day on the job.

In college

  • Take food science, food safety, or microbiology coursesThese explain why temperature and timing matter for safe food production, which is central to running cooking equipment.
  • Get a campus or part-time job in a dining hall or food serviceWorking with commercial kitchen equipment and large batches gives you direct experience that employers look for.
  • Complete a food handler or food safety certificationMany towns and schools offer short courses for this, and it shows employers you already understand sanitation basis rules.
  • Look for a summer job or internship at a food manufacturing plantPlants often hire seasonal workers, and it's a direct way to see how cooking machines are run and maintained.
  • Join a campus food or hospitality clubStudent groups for food, hospitality, or culinary interests build teamwork and give you a network of people in the industry.

Tips for getting started

  • Ask a food plant or commercial kitchen about entry-level production jobs, and say you want to learn the cooking equipment. Showing you're reliable on time and careful with safety often matters more than prior experience.
  • Consider a basic food handler or food safety course. Many towns offer them, and they make your application stand out for food production jobs.
  • Get comfortable with simple math like measuring, converting units, and reading timers and gauges, because you'll use these every shift.

Related jobs a step up

Education, experience and related careers: U.S. Department of Labor. The step-by-step path, where it can lead and what you can do now were written by AI as typical examples; many people take other ways.

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